Credit: Michael Gray, FlickrChanges are being made at the iconic Disney attraction.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has anchored Sunset Boulevard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios since it opened in 1994, five years after the theme park opened at Walt Disney World Resort. It remains one of the most requested attractions in the park more than three decades later. The ride’s mix of storytelling, free-fall drops, and a meticulously themed hotel facade has made it a perennial favorite among Walt Disney World guests, and its Lightning Lane offering is consistently one of the busier options for guests looking to skip standby waits, reflecting the attraction’s enduring pull even as newer intellectual property-driven rides have joined the Hollywood Studios lineup.
Given that popularity, any visible construction on the building tends to draw attention from fans tracking the park’s evolving skyline, even when the changes are purely cosmetic.
The refurbishment wrapping The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney’s Hollywood Studios has entered a new phase, with scaffolding now encroaching on the tower shaft and fresh gray paint becoming more visible across the building’s upper details.
What’s New This Week
As of September 2, scaffolding has pushed further across the attraction’s iconic tower structure, now reaching the corner section adjacent to the shaft itself, according to WDWNT. At this point, the majority of the facade above that sign is behind scaffolding, per the report’s photos, and crews have also erected additional scaffolding on the building’s right side to keep the work moving forward.
Alongside the scaffolding, the gray repainting effort on the balcony and chimney stack has become noticeably more advanced, with larger sections now showing the updated coat compared to prior weeks.
How We Got Here: A Refurbishment Timeline
This phase of work traces back to early May, when refurbishment first began in the attraction’s outdoor queue. Later that month, the flags that had once lined the gift shop exit came down, and a scrim was installed as work continued behind the scenes.
By early July, scaffolding had risen on the far right side of the facade above the gift shop, marking the first visible construction on the tower’s upper exterior. That expanded again in August, when crews began repainting sections of the facade above the gift shop, setting the stage for the more extensive scaffolding and paint work now underway in September.
The Ride Remains Open
Despite the growing scaffolding footprint, Tower of Terror continues operating normally throughout the refurbishment. Gaps have been left in the scaffolding at the ride’s windows, so the views guests get during the attraction itself remain unobscured.
What This Means for You
If you’re planning a visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the coming weeks, expect the tower’s exterior to look different, with visible scaffolding and partial gray paint on the upper facade and balcony. The attraction itself is unaffected operationally, so wait times, Lightning Lane availability, and the in-ride experience should remain consistent with what guests have come to expect.
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